


The Golden Age of Piracy

by Felicianos



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-07
Updated: 2015-07-04
Packaged: 2018-04-04 08:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4131232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Felicianos/pseuds/Felicianos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ten-year-old Arthur Kirkland, the self-professed world-famous pirate captain, wasn't thrilled to be sharing his neighborhood with some rambunctious new children.</p><p>Thirteen-year-old Arthur Kirkland had, rather begrudgingly, adopted his role as the neighbors' babysitter.</p><p>Seventeen-year-old Arthur Kirkland had far more important, sickeningly adult things to be responsible for.</p><p>And the very last godforsaken thing that twenty-seven-year-old, doctoral candidate Arthur Kirkland expected was to see that stupid, overly-enthusiastic face again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Golden Age of Piracy

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Fourth of July gift for my favorite local who wants to be the very best, like nobody ever was~
> 
> i y l woew gtreat?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Happy"birthday" to my favorite Alfred who wants to be the very best, like nobody ever was~
> 
> i y l woew gtreat?

0.0

In a backyard in suburban New England, there was a boy who lived with his father. This father worked a nine-to-five day, leaving at seven a.m. sharp and returning in time for dinner, while his older siblings visited every Sunday for afternoon tea. The oldest had been married last year, while the youngest stayed at prep school an hour out. None of them really cared about coming back every week, nor their youngest brother left behind.

Yet, at this moment, the boy wasn’t concerned in the least bit with any of this. Today he was not Arthur Kirkland, fifth grade student in a stuffy American elementary school.

Today, he was a pirate. Accompanied by his worn copy of Treasure Island, today the small pirate was fighting sailors. And on this day, the little pirate was quite surprised to see someone he did not know across his father's hedge. His usual perch in the backyard oak had a perfect view of the sleepy community, and nothing here ever changed.

“Gladstone! Redbeard! Prepare the cannons!” He whispered, his canine shipmates panting and whining below as he dropped to their side. The rather overweight English bulldog licked his leg, and Arthur patted his head as he crouched by the hedge. With the state of mind he assumed a pirate would have, he stared through the bushes. Dad’s property had rather quiet neighbors, but today they were rival pirate crews. He crawled forward, wooden sword at his side.

This was the jungle brush, and just ahead lay the crew of Blackbeard himself.

 

“Hi!” Tiny feet now obscured his field of vision as he scrambled backwards in shock. 

 

Arthur shook his head to recover, eyes wide. A young boy crouched in front of him, overalls askew and blond hair tousled.

 

“Wha’ssa matter?” Bright blue eyes twinkled with excitement.

 

“Nothing.” He scoffed, embarrassed. “Where’d you come from?”

 

“What’s that?” Little hands picked the light paper off his head, not interested in the question he'd asked.

 

“Give it back. It’s my pirate captain hat. Now, where'd you come from? State your name.”

 

“Pirates?” The boy put the hat back with gentle hands.

 

“Y-yeah.” Arthur squinted, suspicious.

 

“Can I be a pirate?”

 

“I-if you want?” Arthur hesitated. He didn’t generally have any playmates.

 

“Wait, can I be the police?” 

 

“That’s not the same era.” Arthur shook his head, slightly miffed.

 

“I wanna play cops & robbers.” The boy insisted.

 

“But I’m a pirate. You’d be working for the royal navy.”

 

“Cops and Pirates? Wha—a navy?” The boy tilted his head, confused.

 

“Yes, you’d be a navy captain.”

 

The boy scrunched his nose. “Is that the hero?”

 

“Wh-no, well, I am.”

 

“But you’re the pirate.”

 

“The pirates can be the heroes if I want them to be.”

 

“Are you sure? Pirates ain’t good.”

 

“Aren't. And you don’t know that for sure.”

 

The boy shrugged. “I’m Alfie. Who’re you?”

 

“Alfred! ...Oh hello, Arthur, dear.” 

His elderly neighbor—Amelia, Arthur remembered—appeared suddenly from around the house’s corner. He was still half under the hedge, shuffling in embarassment, but she didn’t seem to mind at all. She was always kind to him. In reality she pitied the boy, left alone much of the time without supervision or companions. Not that Arthur knew that, of course. She always kept an eye out for him, to make sure he was doing alright.

 

"Ah, you've met Alfred, our oldest grandson." She bent down, showing him the younger boy she was carrying. He looked quite similar to the one that had cornered him, but with a quieter air and rather misty eyes. 

“This is Matthew, his little brother.” She introduced, without hesitation. “They’ll be staying with us for a while.” Her manner was kind as ever, Arthur noticed. “I’m glad you’ve met straightaway. Won’t it be fun to keep them company? We’d appreciate it so much! You can be their... guard.” She nodded at the fake sword with a small laugh.

 

Arthur couldn’t say no. Amelia made the loveliest sweets, and he helped her tend her flowers sometimes. Arthur liked those flowers. He nodded.

Amelia's returning smile was full of warmth. 

 

“It’s time for their dinner now, but they’ll see you soon! They're staying for quite a while now, you can play together plenty.” She promised, leading the little ones away. Alfred stopped to wave enthusiastically before going inside the tidy colonial.

 

Arthur still wasn’t sure he wanted to play, but would not say such things to such a nice lady. Maybe it would be fun after all. 

Overwhelmed, he could do nothing more than untangle himself from the hedge, head back to his tree and settle into his usual position. "Cops and Pirates," he thought to himself, scoffing as much as a little boy could.

 

What sort of nonsense was that.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if something needs to be fixed, okay friends?


End file.
